Kouzes And Posner's Five Leadership Practices Paper

Kouzes and Posner (2007) have defined the following five leadership practices as necessary to achieving great things in organisations;

Model the way

Inspire a shared vision

Challenge the process

Enable others to act

Encourage the heart

When Brenneman started working at Continental he developed a clear strategy for the business and enlisted his staff to help achieve the company’s goals together. All staff at Continental were facing unemployment, so with Brenneman’s strategy they were able to work together to save their jobs. He saw the value in inspiring a shared vision so that staff could be provided with a clear direction. Furthermore, it was clear to Brenneman that staff morale was low therefore he initiated a symbolic gestures of burning the rule book. It built camaraderie and sense of community through this one gesture. He valued staff members role within the company and enabled them to act so that they could look after their customers and get on with their jobs. He predicted that if he was to turnaround Continental that he would need to seek out new

Brenneman had the courage to question his staff as to why the company was flying to places that were unprofitable, to which he was met with poor responses. Through challenging the status quo Brenneman was able to implement valuable cost saving measure for Continental through closure of unprofitable routes. Another financial initiative to help save money, was the on-time bonus paid to employees. Staff received 15% of Continentals profits for on-time performance which ultimately saved Continental money through reduced operating costs. Showing appreciation of employees contribution to on-time performance, reenforced with staff that excellent customer service not only rewards the company but staff also. This demonstrated how Continental recognised the importance of encouraging the